Smelter

• This proficiency is a "Trained Use" skill, meaning that it cannot be used until it is unlocked.
• The cost to unlock this skill is One Proficiency Point.
• The Attribute Modifier for this skill is Intelligence.

The smelter proficiency is closely tied to the miner proficiency, since between them they provide all the metals used in the world utilized by metalworkers of all sorts. A character with this proficiency can operate a smelter, which is essentially an extremely hot forge. Using this forge and the occasional application of certain liquids, including water and acids, the smelter separates the metal from the rocky ore with which it is usually mined.
The amount of ore that can be processed is more a function of the size of the smelter than the character's working rate. A smaller smelter can process ore as fast as four miners can produce it. A medium smelter can process ore excavated by up to 20 miners. A large smelter can process the ore excavated by up to 100 miners.
Because of the materials needed to operate it, a smelting operation costs money to maintain. This expense is in addition to the cost of the smelting equipment itself. A small smelting operation costs five gold pieces per day to operate; the cost of a medium smelting operation is twelve gold pieces a day, and a large smelting operation costs twenty five gold pieces a day to run. The smelter only costs money while it is operating, thus it is common practice to collect a stockpile of ore before beginning to smelt it, so that the smelter can run at maximum efficiency until all the stock-piled ore has been processed.